I'm a libertarian lawyer and college professor. I blog on religion, history, constitutional law, government policy, philosophy, sexuality, and the American Founding. Everything is fair game though. Over the years, I've been involved in numerous group blogs that come and go. This blog archives almost everything I write.
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Saturday, March 08, 2008

Watchmen 2009:

Chris Berez sent me a link to some stills of the 2009 Watchmen movie. Julian Sanchez likewise was on it. I can't help but share Julian's fear that the movie makers will inevitably screw up royally a "brilliant use of the specific grammar of its medium." I know little of director Zack Snyder. He directed Frank Miller's 300 and did a great job translating it. As with Miller's Sin City, the best way to not screw up Watchmen is to take no artistic liberties; literally shoot right from the comic book. If, for instance, they decided not to make the movie take place in 1985 you know it would be ruined. All great literature takes place in certain time contexts. And in this one, Richard Nixon is President in 1985; America, with the aid of a superhero, won the Vietnam War. And America is in the middle of the cold war with the Soviet Union. These are necessary elements to the story and look like they are preserved. Good. I have no idea which or how many comic books will be regarded as part of the Western Canon, but am confident that Watchmen will be so much so I would bet my life on it.